Hot Topics:

Our Story: Mt. Gretna's prison in the woods deemed a '$900,000 waste'

By CHRIS SHOLLYLebanon Daily News

Updated:
11/23/2012 12:59:39 PM EST

On a ridge near the turnpike south of Lawn, you can find the remains of what was once the beginnings of a maximum security state prison. It's an interesting story of what might have been in Lebanon County.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Pennsylvania Gov. George Earle proposed construction of a new maximum security prison - sometimes referred to as the Mt. Gretna prison, although it never had an official name - to house nearly 600 prisoners. Actually, the prison was four miles from Mt. Gretna.

Such a project would have brought many jobs to the area, not to mention a boost to the economy then - and maybe even now, if it had actually been completed.

Earle believed the state's prisons were inadequate and antiquated. So, in early 1937, Earle approved the site of the new prison at Mt. Gretna. In his book, "The Mt. Gretna Maximum State Security Prison: A Monumental Failure," Historian P.H. Gibble Jr. wrote that business interests and the Lebanon Daily News favored the construction of the prison, which was expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the county. There were many residents who opposed the construction, particularly those who lived near where the prison would be built, Gibble wrote. But, apparently, their objections were ignored.

If built, the prison would have been the fourth major prison in the state, in addition to ones in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Centre County.

The prison was designed by architect Clayton J.

Advertisement

Lappley of Harrisburg and Henry Hornbostel of Pittsburgh. Gibble quotes Hornbostel's description of the prison as the "first innovation in design in penitentiaries since Cherry Hill (Eastern Penitentiary) was built in Philadelphia 100 years ago.

The design called for 592 cells, back to back and side to side, so prisoners trying to escape would simply find themselves in another cell next door. The prison was arranged as three concrete towers with no windows or doors. The central one was the cellblock, according to Gibble. The site also would have had a sewer plant, a power house, administration building, and residences for the warden and other key personnel. Tunnels would connect the towers, so prisoners could be moved without incident.

Construction bids were opened in April 1938, but the numbers exceeded the funds set aside for the project by about $1 million. The bids were rejected but, by October, the state found the additional money. Bids were opened again on Oct. 26, 1938, and the next day ground was broken on the site for the new prison. Workers started construction, clearing the wooded site and pouring concrete footers. But construction of the prison was not to be.

In April 1939, state Welfare Secretary E. Arthur Sweeney announced that an "exhaustive study of prison conditions" in the state convinced him that the proposed $2.7 million Mt. Gretna prison "is unnecessary and unwarranted," according to an article in the Reading Eagle Times. State officials decided to abandon the project.

The companies that were involved in the construction of the prison were eligible to collect damages, according to Gibble's history.

In a 1961 state report that included a history of the state prison system, the Mt. Gretna project was described as a "$900,000 waste" and "scattered foundations and unused trenches remain at what has become a game preserve."

The state's development of past correctional facilities was hampered by "planning that was intermittent and rarely comprehensive" with a history of ill-conceived and poorly planned maximum security prisons, noting the Mt. Gretna facility as one example.

Sholly's column appears periodically in the Daily News. She may be reached at 717-272-5611, ext. 151, or by email at chrissholly@ldnews.com. Also, visit the Our Story blog at LDNews.com.